I lost out on another job today, a receptionist gig at a local advertising firm. According to Axion!Kim, who sent them my résumé (apparently I was right and guilt is a great motivator), they decided I was overqualified for the position.

It’s noble of them to leave me free to pursue bigger and better things, but fails to address the question of how I’m going to continue paying the rent.

Also! The NY State Department of Labor has sent me two unemployment benefit checks, which would be great if only they hadn’t done so in the mistaken belief that I’d worked for the Hospitality Committee for United Nations Delegations Incorporated.

Note the word “mistaken” in the preceding paragraph.

I worked for the United Nations, an employer that is not subject to a withholding tax and thus does not pay unemployment insurance. Therefore, no benefits for yours truly.

I’ve got the equivalent of several hundred dollars sitting on my dining table, taunting me, while I wait for the Department of Labor to send me a goddamn letter telling me what I should do. They can’t discuss it on the phone even though I called them to point out their error, oh no! We have to do this by mail.

Man, where’s a handy encampment of slaughterable sandpeople when you need one?